


For Qwerty's Sake

by chee



Category: Mr. Robot (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 06:53:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8739022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chee/pseuds/chee
Summary: Qwerty isn't looking too well and Mr. Robot kinda just wants to take a nap. But for Elliot, Mr. Robot has to help out that stupid sick fish. A fix-it fic of sorts.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A fix-it fic. Where Qwerty gets a proper tank and proper fish care.

It’s morning when Mr. Robot returns to Elliot’s apartment, the meeting with Tyrell to get the plan back on track after being shot was going great. White Rose no longer sent her lackeys to check on them, her obsession with time grinded Mr.  Robot’s gears.

Everything was in order, he’ll probably lay down a get a few hours of sleep even. The kid did need some sleep, coming out and taking over his body every night was starting to wear down physically on their body.

He throws his bomber jacket back into the closet, and moves towards Elliot’s computer as he takes off his shirt. In the corner of his eye, he sees something odd in Qwerty’s fish bowl.

Huh. Mr. Robot stares at Qwerty, the black betta was laying down on the rocks, barely moving. Dead fish usually rise to the surface though, and he gently taps the glass cube to make sure it is still alive. Elliot loved the stupid thing, a gift from Shayla, and if Qwerty dies now? The amount of fighting they do has increased tenfold, and he’s not sure he wants to deal with Elliot’s shit when he finds Qwerty dead in the morning.

The betta fish moves, only a little, before resting again on the other side of the cube. He’s no fish expert, but somethings wrong.

Mr. Robot sighs and looks over at the clock: 9AM. The pet store down the street should be open now. Well, he tried to be nice and get some rest for Elliot, but that will have to wait. He throws on the black shirt again, the bomber out from the closet, and a scarf before grabbing Qwerty’s tank.

The pet store is a small mom and pop business, the had to cut back most of their employees, most of their stock had vanished, but it was still up and running. People still had to take care of their pets after all, even in an economic disaster.

“Good morning,” a young man greets him. Mr. Robot sets Qwerty down and gives the teenager a once over: the son of the owner. Elliot had hacked their business’s website and their Facebook accounts after buying Qwerty’s cube, he found nothing but a solid reputable company. It was the only reason Elliot kept coming back to the joint for more fish food. “How can I help you,” he continues after giving the fish a look.

“My, uh, son’s fish is sick, the kid will freak if the thing dies so yeah. I don’t know anything about fish besides eating them,” Mr. Robot laughs and pops his gum with a shit-eating grin.

The employee, Amad, nods and replies: “before we would’ve done a free water test, but ever since the hack, I’m sorry but it will cost five dollars for a water test.”

Mr. Robot nods and grabs out his wallet, taking out a five dollar bill and sliding it to the kid. “Yeah, just tell me what’s wrong with the thing and how to fix it. He’ll know if I replace the damn thing.”

Amad grabs a tester kit from under the counter and dips a vial down into Qwerty’s tank, “so how old is your son?”

“Five,” he lies. He ain’t that delusional that he doesn’t know how he looks to people. He pops his gum again and looks around the store: “you guys kinda got hit hard didn’t you?”

The young man shrugs as he compares the vials of water to the color chart, “people go to what they’re more familiar with and that tends to be Petsmart and Petco. Plus the power keeps coming off and on, keeping the filters going for our fish is difficult. We lost a lot just from ammonia spikes cause the filters stopped working.”

“Eh, they’re just fish,” he replies and looks at what the kid is doing.

“Mmm….but you said your son would be heartbroken if he found his fish dead. So, I mean, people care about them. They are pets too.”

Mr. Robot nods, “true, he lost his dog and a friend recently, so I figure this would be the icing on the cake for him if he found out. Rather not deal with that.”

Amad shows what he has written down on his pad, “yeah, your ammonia levels in the tank are pretty bad. Usually lack of filtration and overfeeding cause this. Nitrite and nitrate levels aren’t great either. I’d say your kid’s fish is just dying from ammonia burns. I can see some fin rot on his tail.”

Mr. Robot bends down and looks at where the kid points to on Qwerty’s tail, the fish is completely black, but he can see bits torn off, like string instead of a fully formed fin. “Okay, so how do I fix it.”

The store clerk gives him all the information he can, writing down what to do and when to do it. “We also have some fish tank kits in the back, they’re marked down cause nobody wants to buy a fish right now.”

“Yeah, just ring it all up.”

After the kid rings everything up, Mr. Robot takes out his cellphone and transfers over some E-Coins. The Dark Army had hooked him up with an allowance, even paying for Elliot’s apartment while he was in prison.

He makes his way back to Elliot’s place, bags full of new fish gear and Qwerty’s cube in his other hand. “Stupid fuckin’ fish,” he mumbles as he unlocks the apartment fumbling with both the tank and the bags full of items. He gently places Qwerty on the kitchen counter.

Mr. Robot then pushes all the random stuff on Elliot’s desk to the ground and opens the box of the new tank. “You better live through this Qwerty,” he places the random crap from the kit there and sets the tank where the cube used to be. It’s bigger than the cube and takes up more space, but Amad said the kit was better than the betta cube. Less chance of ammonia poisoning when there’s a filter after all.

He reads the instructions, sets up the tank and sighs. He places the written instructions, with his own added commentary, by the tank for Elliot to read in the morning and puts Qwerty inside the new tank.

The black fish swims a little, taking in his new surroundings and the larger tank, and then gently floats back to the bottom. A little aquarium salt and new water, Amad said, should help. He measures the salt out and adds it to the tank, and watches as Qwerty’s fins flare a little bit.

Not an instant cure, but something. Elliot will have to deal with the rest, ain't my fish, he thinks as he shrugs off the jacket and shirt again, tossing it into the corner.

He’s tired now, not including the time Elliot was awake, Mr. Robot himself has been coding for hours with Tyrell and had to deal with a sick Qwerty. He flops onto Elliot’s bed and lets unconsciousness take over.

It’s Elliot who slowly awakens at 3pm, he groans, his body exhausted and stiff. A sound of streaming water grabs his attention and he sits up to stare at a fish tank where Qwerty’s cube used to be.

“The hell?” Elliot gets up from bed and picks up a piece of paper next to the new tank. Most of it is someone else’s handwriting, instructions on when and how much aquarium salt to use for a sick fish, and in the corner was Mr. Robot’s handwriting.

It read: “take better care of your fish. I'm not here to hold your hand through that. Enjoy the fish tank, it came out of your wallet.” And below that was a drawing a fish in the shape of a penis with a thermometer sticking out of its mouth and a frowny-face. Elliot sighs and stares at Qwerty.

Oh. The poor dude was tucked in the corner, his fins looked pretty gross too. Elliot looks over the tank it’s got to be like 3 gallons, there’s a filter whirring, and a heater tucked in there as well. He smiles.

He and Mr. Robot have been fighting nonstop ever since that bullet hit him in the abdomen, but he supposes he’ll let Mr. Robot have this win here. For Qwerty’s sake.


End file.
